Chapter 728: The Hope of Agriculture

"Dong An, you have truly performed a great service." Zhao Xu patted Dong An on the shoulder, his mouth unable to stop smiling.

The seeds were small, but their influence on the development of Great Song was immense.

Dong An could not realize this; he merely acted according to Zhao Xu's orders and could not consider the far-reaching impact these crops would have on Great Song.

However, seeing Yan Wang so happy, he followed suit and smiled.

After being happy for a while, Zhao Xu sat down again.

This time, he focused on asking about the colonial situation of the Western Lands in the East Land Southern Region.

Especially the British colonization in Tianzhu Guo.

"Luzon currently belongs to the Franks, Jiaozhi belongs to the Frank, the Stedan people occupy Yajia, and besides occupying Tianzhu Guo, the British also control the Piaoman Kingdom. However, the British have the deepest operations in Tianzhu Guo."

"In several coastal cities of Tianzhu Guo, there are a large number of factories established by British merchants. These factories are mainly spinning mills because Tianzhu Guo is rich in cotton."

"Besides this, in order to facilitate the arming of the indigenous armies of Tianzhu Guo, the British also built firearms factories in Tianzhu Guo. It is said that the power of these firearms is not much different from the firearms of the British homeland," Dong An said, stating the information he had collected one by one.

Pausing, his expression became grave, "In addition to this, this subject also obtained a very important piece of information: the British are constantly sending warships and steamships to Tianzhu Guo, and their target is Great Song. Of course, Your Highness may already know..."

Following this, he told Zhao Xu quite a lot about what he had seen and heard during his travels.

Zhao Xu nodded as he listened.

What Dong An said was basically no different from what Fei Wen had said.

However, there were still some more detailed things, such as the social situation in Tianzhu Guo.

They chatted until noon, and Dong An had to return.

He had just arrived and come to the Prince's Mansion; he had not yet had time to go home.

After Dong An left, Chang Wei was filled with worry, "The Northern Di have not yet been wiped out, and I did not expect this pack of wolves from the Western Lands to surround us as well. Each one of them is more dangerous than the Northern Di. My Great Song is truly beset by disasters."

Zhao Xu thought to himself, before this Prince arrived, Great Song was indeed beset by disasters.

But since this Prince has arrived, Great Song is blessed with good fortune.

So he said to Chang Wei: "Do not worry, they are ultimately nothing but a group of paper tigers."

Chang Wei nodded; the comfort from Yan Wang made him feel much more at ease.

As long as Yan Wang was there, what did he have to fear?

As long as they followed His Highness, they could defeat the Westerners just as they had defeated the Northern Di several times.

After taking his leave, he returned to the General's Mansion.

Three days later, he led fifty thousand troops toward Jincheng to execute Yan Wang's next strategy.

At the same time.

The crops Dong An brought back this time also arrived in Yancheng.

Zhao Xu immediately ordered people to send the seeds from the ships to the Official Manor outside Yancheng.

He went there himself.

Besides him, officials like Liu Fu also accompanied him.

Especially the officials from the Agriculture Department.

For the past few days, the biggest news in Yancheng was the news of Dong An's return.

Even the Yanzhou Newspaper published the story of Dong An's adventures.

Besides him, the most excited were those in the Agriculture Department; after all, developing agriculture was their duty.

"Your Highness, the things from the ships are all here." Upon arriving at the Official Manor, an official from the Agriculture Department pointed to the densely packed bags in the warehouse.

According to the Agriculture Department official, these bags filled two warships and three supply ships.

Zhao Xu walked over and inspected the sacks one by one.

The most numerous items inside were still potatoes and sweet potatoes, with two hundred bags of each, followed by thirty bags of corn, then three sacks filled with chili pepper seeds, and two bags each of tomato seeds and tobacco seeds.

Looking at these seeds, the corners of Zhao Xu's mouth turned up, his smile deep.

He seemed to see the agriculture of Great Song about to take off.